Interest in Cayman rising in Dubai

The Department of Commerce and Investment’s office in Dubai is close to paying dividends through inward investment.

John Papesh, who heads up the Dubai office, was in Cayman this week, partially to attend meetings with potential investors.

“Things are going well and there’s an appetite for Cayman,” he said, adding that some discussions with some of the investors were “very far along”.

“It looks like we’ll have a few converted in the next few months.”

Although the announcement was made in July 2009 that the Dubai Investment office would open in December, it wasn’t until the first of March this year that all the various bureaucracy was satisfied and the office officially opened, Mr. Papesh said.

“But I’ve been working since day one,” he said, adding that a data base of thousands of potential investors has been established and the Cayman Islands has been promoted to investors.

In addition to working on behalf of the Cayman Islands through the Department of Commerce and Investment office, Mr. Papesh is also the managing director of Pharos Financial Group. He said Pharos has long-standing contacts throughout Europe and Asia and that he’s able to promote the Cayman Islands through that company as well. Although Mr. Papesh is technically a one-man show in terms of Cayman’s Department of Commerce and Investment office in Dubai, he is able to use resources and personnel at Pharos to help him in his efforts to promote Cayman.

“I can open doors using Pharos or Cayman,” he said. “It’s really a win-win situation.”

Mr. Papesh said Dubai is a commercial hub for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which include Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but he explained that it takes time to develop relationships with potential investors from those countries.

“Doing business in the Middle East is very relationship driven,” he said. “It is a process. The sales cycle usually takes at least one year.”

When Premier McKeeva Bush announced the opening of the Dubai office, he noted that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries were increasingly looking for foreign investment in areas such as infrastructure, tourism, manufacturing, energy, agriculture and real estate.

Mr. Papesh agreed that Middle East investors in Dubai were “open to all types of investment opportunities” and that the investors included a variety of sovereign funds, royal families and institutions.

“Investors from the Middle East know Cayman very well. Cayman has a good brand that is reputable,” he said, adding that Cayman was particularly known for structured bonds that are used quite often there.

However, because Dubai is also a global investment centre, in attracts investors from all over the world and not just the Middle East, Mr. Papesh said, adding that he’s met with investors potentially interested in Cayman from many different countries. He said he spends about half his time travelling, not only in the Middle East, but to other emerging market countries as well.

Although even Dubai hit a rough spot during the global economic recession, he said it is beginning to boom again.

“I’m encouraged,” he said. “I know it’s been a tough few years, but things are improving. Investment is really starting to pick up again. There’s a lot of [investment capital] on the sidelines looking to be deployed.”

He said that in today’s competitive world, Cayman needs to be proactive and go out looking for business.

“It makes sense to have a presence [in Dubai] to promote inward investment,” he said.